Cruz wins debate, as usual

Maybe he was riding the momentum of two recent polls showing him taking the lead, but whatever it was, Ted Cruz was the clear winner over David Dewhurst in the second and final debate between the two candidates before the July 31 runoff.

Of course, Cruz, who’s been debating since he was 15 — that’s also about the time he memorized the U.S. Constitution, he’ll tell you — is always the more aggressive and forceful debater, but it was even more obvious Tuesday night, in part because of the format. The two candidates sat across from each other at a small square table, while two reporters — Gromer Jeffers of the Dallas Morning News and Brad Watson of WFAA-TV — sat at the table with them. To their credit, the reporters kept the candidates on the topic at hand and forced them to account both for past statements and for a couple of their more incendiary ads. The reporters also did their best to head off the tiresome campaign boilerplate.

A debate, whatever the format, is just not Dewhurst’s forte, as he himself pretty much admitted Tuesday night, and he went on to prove it. He looked uncomfortable, often stumbled, and at times found himself on the defensive. It was not a good night for him.

It could be, though, that Cruz is too good for his own good. I remember a voter in Dallas a few weeks ago who told us that he had decided to support the lieutenant governor, because Cruz sounded to him like a slick lawyer who couldn’t be trusted. And, of course, there’s all that Dewhurst money he’ll be putting to good use over the next couple of weeks.

A surprise or two:

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Cruz say that it’s his belief that the government has no obligation to provide health care. It would be cheaper for the uninsured to rely on emergency-room care, he said, than for the federal government to expand Medicaid.

2. Cruz, mentioning Dewhurst’s “vast $200 million fortune,” asked him if he knew how much he (Dewhurst) had invested in China. Dewhurst was taken aback by the question and said he didn’t know. Recovering, he said, essentially, there was nothing wrong with investing in China.

3. Dewhurst said he has “created the most conservative state in the country.”

And finally, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, who finished third in the Republican primary, endorsed Dewhurst tonight.